Transmission quality determination

Abstract

In order to determine and/or improve the Quality Of Service (QOS) of a communication network, for example a GPRS network, the number of Temporary Block Flows (TBF) which is needed to transmit a certain amount of user data, is counted. Depending on this number of TBF's and the transmitted amount of user data the transmission quality of the communication network is calculated, for example as the ratio of the TBF-number to the amount of data.

1 . Process for determination of a transmission quality, particularly a transmission efficiency, in a packet switched radio data communication network, where a certain amount of data is split into a plurality of data blocks of a given size and where a user is allocated one or more temporary block flows, in each of which one or more data blocks are transmitted, characterized in that a number of temporary block flows, which is needed to transmit the amount of data, is determined and the transmission quality is determined depending on the number of temporary block flows and the transmitted amount of data.  
     
     
         2 . Process according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the transmission quality is determined as a ratio of the number of temporary block flows to the transmitted amount of data.  
     
     
         3 . Process according to  claim 1  or  2 , characterized in that the transmission quality of a cellular mobile radio network, particularly a GPRS (general packet radio service) network, is determined.  
     
     
         4 . Process according to any one of  claims 1  to  3 , characterized in that the number of temporary block flows is determined by counting a occurrence of a particular event or a particular series of events.  
     
     
         5 . Process according to  claim 4 , characterized in that an event “set up temporary block flow” or an event “release temporary block flow” is counted.  
     
     
         6 . Process according to  claim 5 , characterized in that the occurrence of the event “release temporary block flow” is recognized by detecting in a transmission protocol of the data transmission a certain number of a particular message, particularly the message “packet control acknowledgement”, in rapid succession.  
     
     
         7 . Process according to  claim 5 , characterized in that the occurrence of the event “release temporary block flow” is recognized by detecting an expiry of a timer, particularly the timer T39 12 of a mobile radio device in a GPRS radio network.  
     
     
         8 . Process according to  claim 5 , characterized in that the occurrence of the events “set up temporary block flow” or “release temporary block flow” is counted by counting a message in a transmission protocol of the data transmission being reserved for the events “set up temporary block flow” or “release temporary block flow” respectively.  
     
     
         9 . Device for determination of a transmission quality, particularly a transmission efficiency, in a packet switched radio data communication network, where a certain amount of data is split into a plurality of data blocks of a given size and where a user is allocated one or more temporary block flows, in each of which one or more data blocks are transmitted, characterized in that the device comprises means for determination of a number of termporary block flows, which is needed to transmit the amount of data and means for determination of the transmission quality depending on the number of termporary block flows, the number of data blocks and the transmitted amount of data.